Tristan Buys 4 Italian Shopping Malls from French Altarea

Pan-European real estate investment manager Tristan Capital Partners has entered the Italian market with the acquisition of four shopping centers through its EPISO 3 opportunity fund. French retail developer and investor Altarea sold the properties for approximately $137.6 million (€122 million).

Two of the assets are located in the northern Piedmont region and together represent about 48 percent of the portfolio’s total rental income. One of the malls called Le Due Valli is located in the town of Pinerolo, about 24 miles (40 km) from Turin, while La Cittadella is located in the town of Casale Monferrato, nearly 50 miles (80 km) from Turin.

Cassetta Mattei, the third property, is located in the southwestern suburb of Rome and represents 32 percent of the portfolio’s rental income. The remainder income portion is represented by another asset located in Ragusa, Sicily.

“Italy is firmly back on the radar screens of pan-European investors and Tristan has been looking to make our first major move in the market for some time. So when the chance arose in an off-market deal to acquire these good quality shopping centers at attractive yields and with solid cash flows, we seized the opportunity. Another draw for the acquisition was that we were able to secure attractive financing terms for the assets,” Cameron Spry, head of investments at Tristan Capital, said in a news release.

Pradera will act as the asset manager for the four shopping centers, which have been recently built and have an average occupancy rate of 93 percent.

“We have been working with Tristan for five years and have acquired and managed eight retail warehouse parks on their behalf in the U.K. We are extremely excited to assist them in this significant move into the Italian market, where we have been present since 2001, and strongly believe in its potential to deliver sound returns to investors,” added Neil Varnham, managing director at Pradera.